iPhone: The Missing Manual 9th Edition

What a marvelous guide to what has become an essential part of many people's lives. The 2014 edition was superb and is still very useful (and cheaper): iPhone: The Missing Manual (Missing Manuals) . But this edition is significantly better, primarily because Pogue has found so many new features and shortcuts. Don't wait for the hard copy; carrying this version on your iPhone and dipping into it from time to time will teach you how to make ever more effective use of the device in small incremental steps.

There are so many riches here, my review can only hint at a few of the treasures; here are a few hint I found especially interesting or useful:

Part 1 -- telephone calls -- the guided tour at the beginning is essential -- the on/off switch, top left on the edge:
-- tap once puts the iPhone to sleep saving power, tap a second time and it is awake.
-- hold 3 seconds; the screen changes and indicates you should "Slide to power off."
-- hold for 1 second turns it back on, a white apple on a black phone, a black apple on a white phone -- a pretty touch.

And, most amazing, an incoming call you can't take; tap the on/off switch twice and the call goes immediately to voice mail. ("Of course, because they didn't hear four rings, iPhone veterans will know you have blown them off. Bruised egos may result. Welcome to the world of iPhone etiquette.")

If you have an iPhone6 or iPhone6s, charge it with the 2.1 amp wall adapter that comes with the iPad, not the 1 amp that comes with the phone; 90% charge in two hours!

There are hundreds of other tips in this section all beautifully described.

The other four major sections are equally rich.

Part 2 -- built-in software especially multi-media

Speak! -- Turn on Speak Selection or Speak Screen; choose your language, voice and speaking rate. Your iPhone will read what's on the screen to you.

And, a neat trick to make a picture of a page you are reading; hold down the button at the bottom and click on the on/off button. Click and it is yours to email or read again at your leisure.

An amazing tutorial on the two cameras integral to the iPhone -- more photographs are taken each on these phones than on any other device.

Special info to get your camera shooting when the iPntohone is asleep.
a. Press the Home button or Sleep switch to wake the phone.
b. Note the faint camera button at lower right of screen; flick it upward.
c. Take pictures.
"This camera short cut bypasses the enter password screen; anyone can take pictures or delete them, but all of your other pictures are safe."
Of course, you can just ask Siri: "Open camera."

Insights into various built-in features; the computation tab is very interesting. If you tap an operator like the + sign, it "sprouts a black outline to help you remember which operation is in progress. Let's see an ordinary calculator do that!"

But, "If you rotate the iPhone 90 degrees in either direction the Calculator morphs into a full blow HP scientific calculator complete with trigonometry, logarithmic functions, a memory function, exponents, roots beyond the square root, and so on."

Part 3 -- internet access

Excellent suggestions for how to pick great apps from the 1.5 million or more offered by Apple.

Part 4 -- outside impacts on the iPhone -- syncing with other devices to fill your iPhone with music, for example.

Use Siri to look up information on Wikipedia. And many other amazing actions Siri will perform.

Part 5 -- two sections, one on setup, the other on trouble shooting.

***

Pogue has published two other wonderful books filled with great ideas:

Pogue's Basics: Essential Tips and Shortcuts (That No One Bothers to Tell You) for Simplifying the Technology in Your Life -- some overlap with the iPhone book, but so many great ideas that you won't really notice the duplication.

Pogue's Basics: Life: Essential Tips and Shortcuts (That No One Bothers to Tell You) for Simplifying Your Day -- some oldies but goodies, many more new ones, and a few clunkers exposed as frauds.

Wonderful stuff!

Robert C. Ross
December 2015

.
Reviewed by Dr C J Singh (Berkeley, California)
.
This review cites Kindle Locations as well as Paperback Page Numbers.

I enjoyed reading the earlier editions of this comprehensive book, learning a lot from David Pogue’s lucid expository style laced with humor.

The publisher, O’Reilly Media, rightly claims:
“The Missing Manuals are witty, well written guides to computer products that don’t come with printed manuals (which is just about all of them). Each book features a handcrafted index; cross-references to specific page numbers, not just ‘see Chapter 14’; and an ironclad promise never to put an apostrophe in the possessive pronouns ‘its’.” As a professional editor and writer, I admire this promise because I find far too many recent books blemished with this particular error.

iPhone 6: The Missing Manual, 9th edition, is an apt subtitle of this comprehensive book – it covers all models with iOS 9 software, including the latest 6s and 6s Plus.

Here are a few brief examples of David Pogue’s engaging writing style (page numbers below refer to the 9th edition; the location numbers refer to the Kindle version).

“The touchscreen is your mouse, keyboard, dialing pad, and notepad. You might expect it to get fingerprint and streaky. But the modern iPhone has an oleophobic screen. That may sound like an irrational fear of yodeling, but it’s actually a coating that repels grease. A single light outt wipe on your clothes restores the screen to its right-out-of-the-box crystal sheen” (page 23; location 411).

“The iPhone’s onscreen buttons are nice and big, giving your fleshy fingertips a fat target. You can't use a fingernail or a pen tip; one skin contact works. You can also buy an iPhone stylus. But a fingertip is cheaper and harder to misplace” (page 33; location 604).

“Making the Keyboard Work: Some people have no problem tapping those virtual keys; others struggle for days. Either way, here are some tips. Don’t be freaked out by the tiny narrow keys. Apple knows your fingertip is fatter than that. So as you type, use the whole pad of your finger to match the skinny keys. You’ll be surprised at how fast and accurate this method is. (Tap don’t mash.) This may sound like New Age hooey, but trust the keyboard. Don’t pause to check the result after each letter. Just plow on” (page 65; location 1173).

“The fourth button, Custom, lets you type or dictate a new message on the spot. ‘I’m in a meeting and frankly, your call isn’t worth getting fired for’ comes to mind” (page 115 ; location 2124 ).

“Voice Command: Believe it or not. Siri is a spinoff from a Department of Defense research project called CALO (Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes)…In a very real way, therefore Siri represents your tax dollars at work. The spinoff was run by the Stanford Research Institute, SRI. But that not where Siri’s name came from. Siri it turns out, is a Norwegian word meaning ‘beautiful woman who leads you to victory’,” (page 130; location 2382).

The book’s five parts comprise 18 Chapters as follows.

Part One: The iPhone as Phone
1. The Guided Tour
2. Typing, Editing & Searching
3. Phone Calls & Face Time
4. Siri Voice Command
5. Voicemail, Texting & Bluetooth
6. Large Type, Kid Mode & Accessibility

Part Two: Pix, Flix & Apps
7. Songs, Videos & Apple Music
8. The Camera
9. All About Apps
10. The Built-in Apps

Part Three: The iPhone Online
11. Getting Online
12. Safari
13. Email

Part Four: Connections
14. Syncing with iTunes
15. iCloud
16. Continuity – iPhone Meets Mac
17. The Corporate iPhone
18. Settings

Part Five: Appendixes
A. Signup & Setup
B. Troubleshooting & Maintenance

A five-star book.

ADDENDUM:
11 February
See my review of Pogue's OS X: El Capitan on amazon.

I purchased this for my elderly (78 years young) mom after I was informed that ATTWS's older 2G network would be shut down near the end of 2016 - the RAZR MAXX I bought in 2006 that she was still using was going to be useless then, and only ATTWS works where she lives and smartphones are pretty much all ATTWS sells now (Cricket didn't work so well - I tested their network but they're not prioritized on ATTWS's network...). Soooo...

I bought her an iPhone 6S and tried to dumb it down somewhat - mostly successfully - but she wanted to know more about the operation of her iPhone. This Missing Manual has helped her understand more about iOS and the iPhone, and how to better use and operate them. In the few weeks after receiving The Missing Manual, I've not had to field any questions or help her "fix this" or "quit making it do that" - which is nice for me, and stress-relieving for her. She's had a landline for some 60 years, but she's never had "voicemail" on her home phone - seriously - because it's too complicated for her, a retired nurse of 30+years. But, now she even is using Siri to initiate calls and directions to locations now - so, thanks, Mr. Pogue!

Even as a former Apple Genius I find things about my iPhone and iPad from these Missing Manual books that I was not aware of. I find it so amazing that people go out and spend 5, 6, 7, and even $800 on a device and they can only send a text, read an email, take a picture, or make a phone call with it. C'mon people! That's an $800 computer in your hands. Oh yes, it ALSO makes phones calls. That $800 device is a full-fledged computer. Learn how and what it can do for you. Either that or go buy a flip-phone for $49 because that's all you need anyway.

This is good stuff. VERY good stuff. Thank you David Pogue.